Communicator spotlight: Filippa Bolz of Klarna
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Filippa Bolz serves as global head of communications and public policy for the newly public buy-now-pay-later company Klarna.
Why it matters: Millennials and Gen Z are looking for flexible ways to spend, with many turning to platforms like Klarna.
Catch up quick: Bolz joined Klarna six years ago and quickly climbed the ranks as the company navigated massive growth.
- "I think Klarna is unique in that they give people a chance to grow into a role and grow into responsibility," she told Axios. "I was fortunate enough to get that. I remember, Sebastian [Siemiatkowski, Klarna CEO] explicitly said, 'I'm a big fan of giving people responsibility early and see how they cope.'"
- Before joining Klarna, Bolz supported crisis communications and corporate reputation at Prime and United Minds, an agency within the Weber Shandwick family.
Details: Bolz reports to chief marketing officer David Sandstrom and oversees the team responsible for corporate, consumer and product communications, public policy and social media at Klarna.
Zoom in: Klarna made headlines after it attempted to replace 700 customer service representatives with AI but quickly had to rehire people to support the work.
- "AI isn't just a C-suite talking point," Bolz said. "We were all encouraged from very, very early on to prompt code and experiment with AI, and I think that's fostered a culture of doing, not talking."
- "We have realized that AI is excellent at making things more efficient, but also that humans are so important, both in the workplace and in the output. And I think a lot of what we do in communications and policy work, it's all about human relationships."
- "For example, tackling an IPO during this AI era, there were so many things that prior, you would have needed a massive team for or several different agencies and advisors, which we know could kind of strip off, and it all came down to creativity, strategy and human relationships."
What she's watching: How to successfully tap into the fragmented media landscape and reach new audiences.
- "I work across 12 different markets, and the U.S. is by far the most head on the new media landscape. ... We got to support that with the IPO," Bolz said. "We gave the traditional outlets time, but we also spoke with Sourcery's Molly O'Shea, Alex Konrad at Upstarts and TBPN. I hope that they create a little bit of healthy competition out there."
- "For us, it's very important to reach and engage the retail investor audience. I'm spending hours on X, StockTwits, Reddit and Discord and trying to understand what it is that they want to know and how they consume information."
Best advice comes from her predecessor, Aoife Houlihan: "Hire good people, don't get in their way and don't ask anyone to do anything you wouldn't do yourself."
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